Brian Johnson/AFN
Dimitri Lazarescu and Julie Cox discuss issues that have been occurring in a wooded area behind their homes near Ray Road and 44th Street. Lazarescu said he believes Mountain Pointe high schoolers go there after school and at night to do drugs, light fires and, in general, make a mess. Lazarescu said he has asked for help from his HOA and Phoenix police, but is concerned that little is being done and that his and neighbors' homes could be in danger if the teens continue to light fires.
Jan. 28, 2011

Brian Johnson/AFN
Dimitri Lazarescu points to a wooded area directly behind his home near Ray Road and 44th Stree that he believes Mountain Pointe high schoolers use to do drugs, light fires and, in general, trash. Lazarescu says he has asked for help from his HOA and Phoenix police, but is concerned that little is being done and that his and neighbors' homes could be in danger if the teens continue to light fires.
Jan. 28, 2011

Brian Johnson/AFN
Dimitri Lazarescu points to a wooded area directly behind his home near Ray Road and 44th Stree that he believes Mountain Pointe high schoolers use to do drugs, light fires and, in general, trash. Lazarescu says he has asked for help from his HOA and Phoenix police, but is concerned that little is being done and that his and neighbors' homes could be in danger if the teens continue to light fires.
Jan. 28, 2011

Brian Johnson/AFN
Dimitri Lazarescu holds an aluminum can that he believes Mountain Pointe high schoolers use to do drugs in a wooded area directly behind his home near Ray Road and 44th Street. Lazarescu says he has asked for help from his HOA and Phoenix police, but is concerned that little is being done and that his and neighbors' homes could be in danger if the teens continue to use the area and, in some instances, light fires.
Jan. 28, 2011

top story

Neighbors of Ray Road natural area say students are starting fires, using drugs

Brian Johnson/AFN
Dimitri Lazarescu and Julie Cox discuss issues that have been occurring in a wooded area behind their homes near Ray Road and 44th Street. Lazarescu said he believes Mountain Pointe high schoolers go there after school and at night to do drugs, light fires and, in general, make a mess. Lazarescu said he has asked for help from his HOA and Phoenix police, but is concerned that little is being done and that his and neighbors' homes could be in danger if the teens continue to light fires.
Jan. 28, 2011

Brian Johnson/AFN
Dimitri Lazarescu points to a wooded area directly behind his home near Ray Road and 44th Stree that he believes Mountain Pointe high schoolers use to do drugs, light fires and, in general, trash. Lazarescu says he has asked for help from his HOA and Phoenix police, but is concerned that little is being done and that his and neighbors' homes could be in danger if the teens continue to light fires.
Jan. 28, 2011

Brian Johnson/AFN
Dimitri Lazarescu points to a wooded area directly behind his home near Ray Road and 44th Stree that he believes Mountain Pointe high schoolers use to do drugs, light fires and, in general, trash. Lazarescu says he has asked for help from his HOA and Phoenix police, but is concerned that little is being done and that his and neighbors' homes could be in danger if the teens continue to light fires.
Jan. 28, 2011

Brian Johnson/AFN
Dimitri Lazarescu holds an aluminum can that he believes Mountain Pointe high schoolers use to do drugs in a wooded area directly behind his home near Ray Road and 44th Street. Lazarescu says he has asked for help from his HOA and Phoenix police, but is concerned that little is being done and that his and neighbors' homes could be in danger if the teens continue to use the area and, in some instances, light fires.
Jan. 28, 2011

Hidden from public view behind a large, undeveloped hill at the
southeast corner of Ray Road and Ranch Circle, teenagers have been
camping, taking drugs, lighting fires and disturbing neighbors,
according to Dimitri Lazarescu, whose back fence abuts the
property.

About a month ago, several teenagers built a campsite in heavy
brush immediately behind Lazarescu's home. When he went out to
clean up the area, he found a fire pit, a scattering of homemade
drug paraphernalia, and a book from nearby Mountain Pointe High
School's library with pages torn out.

"They built a little shelter. We thought it was a homeless person,"
Lazarescu said. "It wasn't. It was students."

Students have been using the back side of the hill as a cut-through
from local neighborhoods to Mountain Pointe High School, at the
southeast corner of 44th Street and Knox Road, for years, he said.
One of the big concerns is the fire hazard, he said.

"We could go up in flames in a matter of minutes with that dry
brush there," Lazarescu said. "We could lose a row of
houses."

Linda C. Littell, Tempe Union High School District spokeswoman,
said the school is not aware of any illegal activity in the
area.

"I haven't heard anything about it. Obviously, we just deal with
things on the school site," Littell said.

A monument sign on the hill's Ray Road slope indicates the property
belongs to the Mountain Park Ranch Homeowners Association. Another
nearby sign describes it as a certified wildlife habitat, where
neighbors sometimes see animals such as javelinas and coyotes,
Lazarescu said.

Jim Welch, Mountain Park Ranch HOA president, said the property had
five "no trespassing" signs scattered around, and crews added three
more on Monday morning.

In practicality, it's hard to stop students from taking the
shortcut, he said.

"Hopefully we can deter any criminal activity," Welch said. "I
can't tell you if (the signs) will be effective."

Welch said he plans to instruct HOA security to better monitor the
area.

Lazarescu said the existing signs have not been a deterrent. A
couple of weeks ago, he said he observed three teenagers stomping
out a fire they had started after flicking a cigarette into the
brush.

Lazarescu said he has confronted teenagers on other occasions, once
hopping his back fence with a fire extinguisher, and another time
yelling at a gathering of them and calling police after observing
them smoking drugs from a glass pipe. The suspects normally flee,
he said.

He's also cleaned up paint cans and industrial solvents that he
believes teenagers are using to get high, he said. Much of the
activity occurs in the afternoon, after school lets out, or in the
night, Lazarescu said.

Julie Cox, another neighbor, said she called police about three
months ago after observing four teenagers sitting on the hillside
throwing rocks at a vacant house. In the last couple of years, area
homes have been paintballed, and she has had people scaling her
fence to cut through the neighborhood, she said.

The trespassers perhaps feel they are not being observed, Cox
said.

"They just stand out there and urinate in public," she said.

Lazarescu said he believes the value of neighborhood homes is
diminished because of the intrusions.

"Our privacy is reduced to zero. Our neighbors', as well," he
said.

He said he intends to install video cameras equipped with infrared
to monitor the area behind his home, and that neighbors are
becoming more vigilant and will call police if they see anything
suspicious.

Sgt. Mike Todd, a Phoenix Police Department spokesman, said
information on the site was not immediately available.

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